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Collaboration Needs Light Structures: Sharing CSIDNet’s First Working Group Selection Process

Some questions are simply too big to answer alone. In climate science, infectious disease modeling, and open source software, the hardest problems are not about a single dataset, method, or tool. They sit across disciplines, institutions, and contexts. Progress on these problems requires shared infrastructure, shared discourse and concepts, and sustained coordination over time. Establishing such sociotechnical infrastructure for working together across organizations, geographies, and disciplines is often invisibilized, under-resourced, and left to chance.

CSIDNet was created in response to this gap. We strongly believe that if collaboration is essential to advancing climate-sensitive infectious disease research and tools that serve societies around the world, then equitable, transnational collaboration itself needs to be intentionally designed and supported. This is why CSIDNet uses a working group model. Our working groups are designed to advance topics that require multiple perspectives and shared ownership. Each group brings together individuals and organizations from different backgrounds to co-design, test, and advance topics related to CSID tools in ways that no single person could do alone. Working groups are autonomous in their work, aligned with the network’s shared goals, and connected to one another through ongoing coordination. 

From ideas to collective decision-making

We began shaping our first cohort of working groups in early 2025. Between March and June, CSIDNet hosted a series of 11 bi-weekly discussions where members shared early ideas for topics that might be of interest to turn into working groups. These conversations culminated in further refinement during our annual general meeting in July 2025.

Timeline of the Working Group selection process. Source.

To steward the next phase, CSIDNet convened an ad hoc committee with representatives from the Advisory, Governance, Training and Finance Committees. The role of this committee was not to select working groups, but to design and oversee a fair, transparent, and participatory process through which the network could make this decision together. The committee developed eligibility criteria, proposal templates, terms of reference, and a voting process, and issued an open call for working group proposals to the membership. In response, CSIDNet received 12 applications.

A first-of-its-kind membership vote

After an initial eligibility review, eight proposals moved forward to a full membership vote in August 2025. This marked a significant milestone for CSIDNet. For the first time, members were asked to collectively endorse the working groups that would shape the network’s scientific and strategic agenda.

The vote was intentionally designed to balance openness with care. Members could support proposals, withhold support, or flag veto-level concerns related to feasibility, ethics, or reputational risk. Clear thresholds were set in advance, including minimum participation, majority support, and safeguards to ensure serious concerns were addressed rather than overridden. With an 80% participation rate, the vote reflected strong engagement and shared ownership across the network. Five working group proposals met the criteria and were endorsed to move forward.

This moment mattered not just because of which working groups were selected, but because of how the decision was made. Working groups are the heart of CSIDNet’s collaborative scientific work. Placing their selection in the hands of the membership signals our commitment to collective governance, transparency, and accountability, values that are core to CSIDNet.

What comes next

Following the vote, CSIDNet supported five endorsed working groups through a participatory budgeting process to allocate a shared funding pool of USD 50,000. An external facilitator guided this six-week process, ensuring that decisions about resources reflected shared values and collective priorities rather than competition.

In the next post in this series, we share how the participatory budgeting process worked, what we learned about shared decision-making, and how these lessons are shaping future working group cycles.

The Working Groups

The five working groups supported through this process reflect the breadth and interconnectedness of CSIDNet’s work:

Community Engagement WG

The Community Engagement Working Group is developing a toolkit to support researchers in meaningfully engaging affected communities across the entire research value chain from design to communicating findings. The working group will pilot the toolkit in Africa and Asia. 

Join or participate in WG activities: We invite people based in Africa and Asia to test the newly developed Community Engagement 4 CSID Toolkit as part of the pilot phase of development between May and August 2026. People should have a small project already in mind and not already be community engagement experts. People will be asked to use the Toolkit to develop their idea and run their activity. They should provide feedback on the Toolkit to the Working Group by September. A small stipend will be available to help run the activity. Because funding for the pilots is limited, we also welcome volunteer projects to test the toolkit. 

We also invite volunteers to review the toolkit before it is published. Reviewing will take approximately 2 hours towards the end of September. Feedback will be consolidated through a feedback template.

Get in touch: Send an email to [email protected] 

CSID Atlas WG

The CSID Atlas Working Group is building a shared, global picture of climate-sensitive infectious diseases (CSIDs). We integrate evidence across disciplines to clarify which diseases are climate-sensitive, how climate influences their transmission, and where geographic risks and monitoring gaps are greatest. The Working Group is developing a common framework that organizes CSIDs by transmission route and by direct or indirect climate sensitivity, forming the foundation of the CSID Atlas – an interactive visualization of the global CSID landscape. 

Join or participate in WG activities: We welcome participation from experts across relevant fields. Interested individuals can join as core members, committing dedicated time and agreed quarterly deliverables, or as contributing members on a voluntary basis. We are especially interested in contributors with experience in geospatial data, interactive dashboards, or data visualization platforms who can support development of the CSID Atlas.

Get in touch: To express interest or learn more about the CSID Atlas, please complete the Google form to get in touch.

CSID Models, Data, and Methods Repository WG

The CSID Models, Data, and Methods Repository is building a shared catalog of tools, models, and metadata to support interoperability across research and policy. 

Join or participate in WG activities: We are looking for proactive contributors from diverse backgrounds (epidemiology, climate science, data engineering, and public health). You can participate by:

Get in touch: Send an inquiry to Leonardo López, Working Group Point of Contact at: [email protected] with the subject line “CSID Repository Inquiry”.

Ethical Framework WG

Ethical Framework for CSID Research is establishing guidelines that integrate scientific rigor with social justice, including indigenous knowledge systems and digital ethics.

The Ethical Framework for Climate-Sensitive Infectious Disease (CSID) Research Working Group develops practical ethical guidance and tools for researchers and Research Ethics Committees working on surveillance, modelling, and outbreak research under climate and environmental pressures. Building on prior climate-health ethics work led by the Africa Bioethics Network, the group focuses on (1) AI and digital ethics, (2) community and Indigenous knowledge integration, and (3) equitable data governance and cross-border data use.

Join or participate in WG activities: We welcome participation at different levels (core working group members, contributors to specific activities, and community-of-practice members). We particularly welcome researchers, REC members, AI/data specialists, community engagement practitioners, and policy or governance experts interested in ethical CSID research. Apply here by April 21st, 2026.

Get in touch: Send an email to [email protected]

Early Warning Systems WG

The CSIDNet Working Group on Early Warning Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries establishes a co-design space for tools that connect climate, health and environmental data. 

Join or participate in WG activities: We welcome modelers, public health professionals, climate scientists, and early-career researchers to join our monthly virtual peer-learning sessions to explore and test existing CSID early warning models. Members can contribute datasets, participate in model testing, or collaborate on technical reviews. Participation is voluntary.

Get in touch: Send an email to Dr Ibrahima Diouf (WG Lead) – [email protected] and Mamadou D. Coulibaly (Co-Lead) – [email protected]